O Good and Faithful Servant

We read in Scripture of the blessing of the good and faithful servant.

So why don’t we reward or bless the good and faithful servant in practice, in our lives or communities and yes, even in our parishes and dioceses?

A lot of coverage is given to those amazing conversion stories, to those fantastic testimonies, the Johnny Come Lately who allegedly rose from the ashes.

Very little coverage is given to those faithful, tireless workers, lay people and priests, who serve well, day in and day out, who are fulfilling their vocations with patience and diligence and prayer. Who may not have stories of riches from adversity but who do have stories of faithfulness.

In a society where faithfulness is often decried, where the spectacular is raised on a pedestal and the ordinary is ignored, where wives are encouraged to leave loveless marriages, where people are encouraged to live for the now, who knows what tomorrow may bring, to have fun, to put themselves first, in this society we need examples of faithfulness put before us.

We need the stories of the faithful parish priest, celebrating mass, hearing confession, listening to parishioners, praying, teaching catechism…so that wife in despair can see why faithfulness to her vocation is important, too. So that the parent tied down to a mortgage and a job sees the value of faithfulness to their vocation.

Ordinary people living ordinary lives need to see how faithfulness is a blessing, a reward, a virtue.

They need to see not only the story of the poor boy turned priest or bad boy turned priest, but also the story of the good and faithful shepherd, leading an ordinary life in an extraordinary fashion, with faith and with faithfulness.

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2 thoughts on “O Good and Faithful Servant”

There's a great book (well from what I hear) about a very ordinary Protestant minister and his faithful ministry in difficult circumstances (actually Quebec, I think). It's written by his son, Don Carson, who is a pre-eminent Protestant theologian today. He was inspired by his father's faithfulness in what others may have thought was an insignificant ministry. I think he wrote it to encourage other ordinary ministers and servants of God. It's called Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson, by D. A. Carson.The first review of the book on Amazon has a lovely quote from the end of the book.Pam